That's My Girl!
by Kanna37
Summary: Continuation of That's My Boy! for those who asked. Little Sesshoumaru and Little Kagome have a tiny adventure on the playground... now a collection of chibi one-shots. 2nd Best Humor Fiction Dokuga 4th Quarter 2011 for Little Sesshoumaru's First Kiss. On temp hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

**That's My Girl!**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

~oOo~

Little Kagome watched, quite complacently, as little Sesshoumaru scared another boy away, her best friend Sango sitting next to her, also watching the young demon frighten the coward away.

"Why'd you let him do that, Kagome?" she asked, curious.

"Because he's courting me," she replied quite calmly, a small smile on her face. "That means I'm his, and he's doing what he's supposed to be doing. Inupapa explained it to me," she finished, waiting for the little silver-haired boy to come back to her side.

"Oh," Sango said, her face scrunched up as she thought about that. "It must be kinda like what Miroku does when other boys try to touch my bum. He doesn't like that, and chases them away, too."

Kagome nodded, a serious look on her face. "Yeah, it's like that. Inupapa says no other boys are supposed to touch me," she shrugged. "So I don't let them, and neither does he. I don't want to mess up the courting thing."

Just at that moment, a commotion was heard on the playground as little Kagura and little Kanna arrived, and suddenly, a scowl broke out over little Kagome's face as she stood up and approached little Sesshoumaru, who was being crowded by the new arrivals.

Fists clenched, the little girl stomped up to little Kagura and pushed in between her and little Sesshoumaru, glaring at the mini-kazi with a pink glow wrapping around her tiny hands and a threatening look on her face.

"Go 'way, Kagura," she demanded. "Sesshoumaru's mine, and you can't have him. He's courting ME, not YOU!"

Little Kagura glared just as fiercely back at the mini-miko, and said, "Well, you're just a stupid human! He should be courting me! I bet he doesn't really want to court you, you probably bullied him into it with your stupid miko powers!"

That made little Sesshoumaru scowl. As if he would be afraid of anyone, especially Kagome! But before he could say anything, a red-faced, pixie-sized miko got a good one in on Kagura.

"Hah! You're just jealous," the little girl said smugly. "Because Sesshoumaru loves me, and not you. And besides... Sesshoumaru isn't afraid of anybody, not even me or you. You're the one that would try to bully someone to court you, because no one would want to by themselves!" she finished triumphantly, to the giggles of the now gathered children.

Little Kagura glared at her and then burst into tears, running off to sit with little Kanna as everyone laughed at her. She was a bully, too, and that's why everyone was laughing, because Kagome had only said the truth.

Touga had watched the whole confrontation with a close eye, planning to intervene only if it came to blows, which it thankfully hadn't, but he couldn't help the laughter when his eldest son proudly declared, "That's my girl," to the group of children, before once more plastering himself to her side.

He could just see the boy patting himself on the back, and the whole thing was absolutely hilarious.

What made it even better, was that the whole thing was giving his mother hives.

The daiyoukai snickered to himself at that - he was greatly enjoying his ex-wife's discomfiture.

_That's definitely my boy!_


	2. Little Kagome and the Big Bully

**Little Kagome and the Big Bully**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

~Q~

Little Sesshoumaru met his mother's rather pinched gaze calmly. "No, mother, I will not withdraw my claim on Kagome-chan. I will continue to court her, and one day she will be my Lady," he said firmly, no compromise in his chibi voice at all.

"Surely, my little Sesshoumaru, a youkai female would be more appropriate. Has not mother taught you better? Humans are too weak, and not worthy of your magnificence, your strength," she coaxed. "If you must court a female at this age, why not that nice little Kagura? She is strong."

"You jest, mother," he scoffed. "Kagura is nothing but a bully, threatening only those weaker than herself. Kagome-chan, however, is anything but weak – as she's proved to Kagura repeatedly," he said, a satisfied expression in his eyes as he thought back over some of Kagome's run-ins with little Kagura.

Satori stared at her son, completely nonplussed. She couldn't believe that her own son had been infected by his father's penchant for humans. After all, the most powerful male youkai in existence had tossed her aside for a mere human female. And now, her son would turn his back on his heritage for one, too?

Smoothing a dainty clawed hand over her skirt as she stared at her son, her perfectly coiffed hair began to look a little frazzled as her other hand tugged at a strand in confusion and upset.

At this rate, she'd end up with ulcers... normally a thing only weak humans suffered from, of course. But this situation had her nerves completely overwrought.

"I cannot countenance this, my son," she finally said sternly, hoping to intimidate him into cooperating. "You are the heir to the West. You must have a strong youkai female at your side, not some silly human girl."

Flicking a silver lock over his shoulder, little Sesshoumaru met his mother's stern glare with a bored one of his own as he looked pointedly at his little watch. "Father has already approved, mother, and since it is father who is Western Lord, and not you, it is only his decision that counts. Take heed to my words - this Sesshoumaru will not tolerate your interference in his courtship."

With that, the pup turned and let himself out of the room he'd met with his mother in, and went searching – he'd left his Kagome-chan with his father while visiting with his mother, and it was high time he got back to his chosen female.

Stunned as her son simply walked out of the room not even intimidated one little bit by her words, Satori stared at the door he'd walked through for several long seconds... and then she was on her feet and stalking – elegantly, of course – through it, determined to chase her chibi down and reprimand him, make him see sense.

She stormed out the patio doors to find her former husband, her son, and a little human girl talking animatedly, and without even looking at the other two, pinned her irate gaze on her son.

"Sesshoumaru," she snapped, glaring at him as she reached out to grab his arm, "I will not have it! You wi-"

She was stopped in mid-rant by a tiny tornado as little Kagome threw herself in front of little Sesshoumaru, her hands flung out in front of her as a bright pink light zapped Satori backwards away from him.

"Don't you touch my Sesshoumaru!" the chibi dark-haired little girl hollered, glaring fiercely at her. "You leave him alone, you big bully!"

Touga stared at his ex-wife, on her bottom on the ground, looking like she'd been hit by lightening with her hair all frazzled and her expensive suit smoking, and burst out laughing almost hysterically. Moving towards Kagome, he gently patted the little girl on her arm to calm her, and managed to get out, "That's his m-mother, Kagome-chan," around huge guffaws of laughter.

The little girl suddenly looked horrified, but Sesshoumaru did not. He simply looked smug as he addressed his mother.

"I told you she was not weak. You should have listened."

With that, to the astounded female's everlasting ire, the heir to the west took the little girl's hand and led her back inside the house, soothing her upset and happily letting her know just how proud of her he was, leaving her, _his own mother_, on the ground in front of her ex-husband, who was still laughing his head off at her.

_Well... she certainly is as strong as he said, _she thought dubiously, her skin itching quite nicely from the shock of the little girl's powers.

_Maybe I shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning._

She stood up finally after several long seconds spent contemplating the astounding events of the last hour, and ignoring her humiliation with a sort of grand indifference, she patted her clothing and hair back into place as much as possible.

"I think a strategic withdrawal at this point would be best. After all, there are many years ahead for me to sink this so-called courtship," she said loftily as she retreated out the door. "I have plenty of time."

Touga just laughed some more.

_I am never, ever, going to forget this day! _he chortled. _Kagome-chan, you are my absolute most favorite person on earth!_

Sesshoumaru would have agreed quite heartily with his father's sentiment – she was his most favorite person on earth, too – though that had nothing to do with what she'd done to his mother.

Although that _was_ quite funny...

~oOo~

A/N: Yes, I am still alive, but have been dealing with RL issues. Still am, for that matter – this was just something that came to me as a sort of stress relief.

Hope you all enjoy it!

Amber


	3. As the Playground Turns

**As the Playground Turns...**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

~oOo~

Little Sesshoumaru was quite animated at the playgroup the next day as he watched over his Kagome with pleased eyes, telling everyone of her bravery in facing down a fully grown female inuyoukai – his own mother. He was in such a good mood that even his twerp of a half-brother's usual antics weren't bothering him – and that was saying a lot.

Although... Touga had definitely noticed the lessening of hostilities between his sons – Kagome was a _very_ good influence on his overly opinionated heir. Anytime he started to get even a little out of hand, she would turn those devastating blue eyes of hers on his son, and that would be the end of whatever obnoxiously mean thing the boy was planning.

She was also a restraining influence on his youngest, who was quite wild in his antics at times. All in all, he couldn't be happier with the female his son had chosen – even if it was unheard of for a seven year old to start a courtship.

And that's why the Inu no Taisho was willing to go along with the whole thing, and stood watching the three children with pride. It was his turn to stay with the tykes at playgroup – the Higurashi's and he had worked this schedule out after Kagome's parents had adjusted to their daughter being courted by the heir to the West.

Toga grinned again as he heard his son telling the story of his mother's defeat once more to a wide eyed group of kids.

_I will never tire of hearing that story, _he thought with a chortle. _Life will definitely never be boring with Kagome around, that's for certain._

That thought gave him _great_ pleasure.

~oOo~

"... and she landed right on her rear with her clothes and hair smoking," little Sesshoumaru said proudly.

Little Sango turned to little Kagome with wide-eyes and asked, "Did you really zap his mother?"

Little Kagome nodded, a blush on her cheeks. "Yeah. I didn't know who she was, 'cause when she came out and started yelling at Sesshoumaru, I just jumped in without looking at her. I didn't mean to do it," she finished sadly.

"Well," the little brown-eyed girl said dubiously, "he doesn't seem mad about it. I think he's proud of you."

Kagome nodded. "He is. I guess his mother doesn't like humans, and she doesn't like him courting me. She wanted him to court Kagura."

"Kagura?" Sango snorted. "Why? She's just a stupid little bully – even _I_ can kick her butt, and I'm not even a miko! She's afraid of my boomerang even... and I'm not that good at it yet," she giggled, patting the overly large object at her side.

Kagome was about to answer when a commotion at the front of the playground caught her attention, and she looked over, noticing a little boy with black hair in a high topknot entering the playground and looking around as if he owned it.

"Oh, look, Sango – a new boy! I wonder what his name is?" she said, watching the boy look around with interest. "He's a youkai, too."

Sango watched as the boy's eyes landed on Kagome, and then shook her head when he grinned and headed straight for her best friend. "Look out, Kagome... he's coming over here, and you know Sesshoumaru's gonna get mad as soon as he sees some boy talking to you without him here."

Before the little girl could even answer, she found herself picked up and thrown over a little boy's shoulders, and by the time her mind had caught up to her, she was on the other side of the playground being placed back on her feet as the little boy grabbed her hands and started talking a mile a minute.

"Hi I'm Kouga and I'm a wolf youkai and wolves mate for life and so now you're my woman got it?" he told the bewildered little girl in run on sentences. "I'm gonna be the ruler of the wolf clan when I grow up and that means you'll be my princess and we'll rule them together forever and have lots of little wolf cubs and..."

Kagome blinked, then blinked again, not hearing anything past 'Kouga' and 'my woman'. After a few moments of trying to get her equilibrium back, she finally broke into the wolf's hundred mile an hour chatter about what their whole lives were going to be like.

Apparently he thought he could plan it all out right now.

"Um, I'm sorry, Kouga, but I can't be your woman. I already belong to someone else," she said, trying to pull her hands away from the grabby boy.

"Then I'll just fight them and kick their butt and then you'll belong to me 'cause that's the youkai rules and youkai rules always count even if it's humans and..."

"If you wish to retain the use of your hands, wolf, you will take them off of my female," came the deadly cold voice of a very angry little daiyoukai whose youki was quite suddenly flaring wildly over the entire playground.

Kouga froze as that youki crawled up his spine and slowly let Kagome's hands go to turn and stare at the person that was letting out so much dangerous power.

"Who're you?" he asked, his brash personality kicking in despite his fear. He wasn't about to just give up because some kid with a lot of youki said so – even if he was scared.

"I am Sesshoumaru, heir to the Western Lands. And Kagome is_ my_ female. This one will not tolerate any further disrespect towards his intended. You will refrain from calling her 'your woman' or face the consequences, wolf," he said dangerously. "You cross me at your peril."

Little Kouga stepped back a pace at the tone of voice – and big words, some of which he didn't understand - and looked around at the suddenly rapt audience surrounding them all. "Heh," he scoffed, "you're just a dog. I'm a wolf – we're better than dogs. You afraid that... uh..." he blushed and looked around at the little girl he'd been making eyes at and said sheepishly, "Uh... I forgot to ask... what's your name?"

The entire group started laughing at the poor wolf cub as he blushed deeper, and Sesshoumaru took that moment to once more take his place at little Kagome's side. Looking at his rival with an arrogant disdain that only he could have ever pulled off at a mere seven years old, he said, "I fear nothing, wolf, least of all you. _My_ _Kagome_ would never choose such a useless baby over one such as I."

Kouga growled in embarrassed anger at Sesshoumaru, and was about to say something when Inuyasha smacked him across the back, sending him flying into the dirt. "Hah! You're just a weakling," the hanyou howled with laughter, falling to the ground and pounding it in glee. "_I_ could beat you up, and I'm only five!"

Little Sesshoumaru looked on with a smirk at the sight of the wolf in the dirt, and was about to move over to him, when Touga belatedly pushed into the group of laughing kids, and shooed everyone off.

He shook his head and sighed, then moved over to lift the little wolf cub out of the dirt, casting a quelling glance at his youngest son, who abruptly stopped his howling laughter. "Sesshoumaru, take Kagome and go back to what you were doing, and Inuyasha," he glared at his son once more in warning, and the boy winced, "you will wait here for me. We need to have a little talk, you and I," he finished ominously.

Kagome, who'd kept her mouth shut once Sesshoumaru had arrived at her side, just followed along obediently as Sesshoumaru escorted her and Sango back to the little girl's boomerang, little Miroku trailing along behind them quietly – at least, until Sesshoumaru sent him a red-eyed glare, and then the mini-pervert scurried ahead with an ingratiating look at the scary inuyoukai child.

Sango just rolled her eyes. "Looks like Miroku was looking at our bottoms again," she said. "If Sesshoumaru hadn't scared him away, I'd have had to hit him with my boomerang, and I don't want to crack it on his hard head."

Kagome just nodded as a very irritated and jealous little boy plastered himself to her side, practically trying to climb inside her skin with her. She really hoped that Kouga would get the message and not grab her anymore – otherwise, she would never get breathing room again.

_And_ that Miroku would finally stop staring at her bottom, or _he_ wouldn't be breathing for _long_.

As Sesshoumaru hovered protectively at her side glaring at every little boy on the playground with hellfire in his eyes, Kagome looked at Sango solemnly and sighed. "You know what? I think fairy tales are lies, 'cause nothing like this stuff ever happens in them."

Sango looked at her thoughtfully, and then shook her head. "No... I think you're wrong, Kagome. I remember one that was just perfect."

Looking confused, little Kagome looked at her friend, head tilted. "Which one, Sango?"

The little girl giggled behind her hand. "Little Red Riding Hood... and the Big, Bad, Wolf."

"If that wolf comes anywhere near my Kagome again, that story will have to be renamed Little Red Riding Hood and the stinky little wolf-_pelt,_" a certain irate little Sesshoumaru snarled.

Touga, who was returning with a very chastised little Inuyasha in tow, guffawed behind his hand, unable to contain his humor at the sight of his riled up son and heir.

_I think I might just talk the Higurashi's into letting me watch the kids at playgroup all the time. I can't think of anything more entertaining than this place – it's better than TV. _

_It's like it's own little soap opera... As the Playground Turns, or something..._

~oOo~

A/N: While I do read and appreciate all my reviews, I have been so busy lately that I just haven't been able to really answer any of them, and I don't know when I'll get the chance to do so. Please don't think I'm ignoring you all... I barely have any time to even write anything, which is why I'm mostly doing these one shots lately – they don't take as much time to write as my chapter stories do.

Amber


	4. Little Sesshoumaru's First Kiss

**Little Sesshoumaru's First Kiss**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

~oOo~

Sesshoumaru scowled at the little wolf prince swaggering around the playground like he owned it, death in his golden eyes.

He was still very angry and extremely wary of the wolf after what he'd tried to pull with _his_ Kagome that first day he'd appeared on the playground, and, proving just how stupid wolves were, he'd continued calling Kagome 'his woman'... which was only causing the little daiyoukai to plan out his death in more and more gory detail.

_Very_ gory.

Kouga had no idea just how close his demise really was...

Kagome did her best to stay away from Kouga, and Sesshoumaru, determined to keep the disgusting dregs of the canine world away from _his_ female, stayed glued to her side at playgroup, barely allowing air to get between them. But it was rather uncomfortable to have so little freedom, and especially for Sesshoumaru – he couldn't even chase down his annoyance of a half-brother when the whelp had pushed him too far.

Something had to give...

Sesshoumaru wouldn't be the only thing going ballistic if it didn't, either – Touga was beginning to stress out, too, because it fell on _his_ head to keep his sons from killing the wolf prince – which they both seemed to want to do. After a few days, he found he couldn't fault them – the boy's father was just as annoying, and he was beginning to wish _he_ could kill _him._

It was into this rather toxic atmosphere that a pretty little wolf _princess_ sauntered a week after Kouga first entered the picture. Her name was Ayame, and Kagome and Sango took to her quite quickly – though Sesshoumaru wasn't thrilled to see yet another wolf hanging around.

His opinion changed very drastically when little Ayame, red-haired pig-tails bouncing happily, caught sight of Kouga swaggering onto the playground. With a gleeful shriek, the friendly little white wolf speedily pounced on a suddenly horrified little Kouga and loudly pronounced him her 'man' as he landed on his backside on the ground, his little brown tail whipping around in agitation.

The playgound fell rather silent as little Kouga, shocked at her sudden appearance, weakly struggled to get away from the over-enthusiastic princess. After a moment, little Kagome asked the question on everyone's minds.

"Umm... Kouga's _yours?_"

Little Ayame, a beaming smile on her face, nodded. "Hai. We are b-bet-trothed," she said, having a bit of difficulty saying the word, though she understood it perfectly. "We're promised mates – our families decided when we were born."

Sesshoumaru was almost smiling by that point, an evil glint in his eyes as he stared at the pinned and now frantic little wolf prince. "So... _you_ are his woman, then," he said, pleased when the little girl nodded once more. "Good. Then keep that flea-infested _thing_ away from _my_ woman."

Ayame's little nose scrunched up as she frowned at the hostility in the golden eyes. "Why? What's wrong with him wanting to be friends with Kagome?" she asked, clearly confused as little Sesshoumaru wrapped himself possessively around the blushing blue-eyed miko.

Nose in the air, Sesshoumaru huffed. "Does he call all his friends 'his woman'?" he asked acerbically.

Pretty green eyes narrowing with rapid-onset temper of the red-head type, Ayame turned to look down at Kouga, who was now whimpering in fear, and asked with a rather dangerous note in her high, clear child's voice, "Oh, is that what he was calling you, Kagome?" Though they'd just met, apparently the little princess had decided that she liked the mini-miko, and in the time-honored way of wolves, instantly began treating her familiarly, as though they'd been friends for years.

Little Kagome nodded uncomfortably. "Hai," she said softly, embarrassed and blushing at all the attention.

A fierce mini growl burst from the little redhead's throat, but then, all of a sudden, her cheerful demeanor returned, and she grinned happily at Kagome. "Don't worry, I'll take care of that." Looking down at Kouga, she grabbed his arm and pulled him up from the ground where he was still sitting on his backside, and told him to be quiet and not move – or _else_.

The cowed male – to Sesshoumaru's amusement – didn't move.

She turned a sweet smile on the little daiyoukai, then, and said, "If you want all the boys to know that she's yours, all you have to do is kiss her."

Every child surrounding them blinked at that announcement, curious. How could kissing a girl prove she's yours?

Kagome's blue eyes clouded with confusion and a bit of wariness. "Kisses are what moms and dads give their kids," she said slowly, looking at a blushing Sango – and a fascinated Miroku.

Ayame giggled. "That's only one kind of kiss, you know. Sesshoumaru needs to give you the _other_ kind of kiss – remember in Sleeping Beauty when the prince kisses her and wakes her up? It's because she was _his_ that the kiss woke her up!"

Eyes widening as her blush deepened across her cheeks, Kagome couldn't deny Ayame's words – everyone knew about Sleeping Beauty and her prince – and that_ kiss. _And then one of her favorite Disney princesses came to mind – Ariel, the little mermaid. Her prince had to kiss her, too, to save her from Ursula and prove that she was his princess.

Ayame was right!

Little Sesshoumaru was also thinking about things in his particular over-analytical manner, and, not paying attention to the fact that most of the playgroup was waiting breathlessly for him to just kiss the girl, suddenly began to smirk in a very devious way at something that had just occurred to him...

When human boys kissed a girl, that meant that they were married – which was the closest thing humans had to being mates. He should know – he'd been dragged with his father to enough human weddings, and was well acquainted with the phrase 'you may kiss the bride'. Before, that had always disgusted him, but the thought of kissing his Kagome...

Not disgusting at all. And then they would be married, meaning all the boys would have to keep their hands _off_... Ayame was actually smart for a wolf, he decided in that moment. He would have to think of a suitable thank you gift later.

Right now, though...

He looked around at the group of children with a slight frown – who would be the best one to get to tell him he could kiss his Kagome? At those weddings, it was always a boy, so Ayame was out. Then he caught sight of Miroku, and decided that the mini-pervert was the perfect person, since he would no doubt be trying to get as close to the kissing couple as possible, and might even knock a few kids over to get there unless he was already close.

Catching the little boy's eye, he motioned for him to approach, and when he did, he took hold of his Kagome's dainty hand and tugged her over to stand next to him. With a frown, he noticed something was missing, though... in those weddings, the female always had flowers, and while he didn't really see the point, he wanted this done right. He took care of that lack by ordering the violet-eyed boy to run over to the edge of the playground and grab a handful of the yellow and white daisies lining the edge of the fence, and once the boy was back, he took them and presented them to a surprised mini-miko with a small flourish.

Not sure what to make of what was going on, Kagome smiled hesitantly at little Sesshoumaru and took the flowers, and then glanced around at their rapt audience before asking what was going on. Instead of answering, little Sesshoumaru bent close to Miroku's ear and whispered his instructions to him. With a rather mischievous grin, the little girl-watcher puffed his chest out importantly and cleared his throat loudly.

Little Sesshoumaru waited with high anticipation as the boy opened his mouth, and said, "You may kiss your bride, Sesshoumaru-sama," proudly.

Wide-eyed, little Kagome looked up at a mini-daiyoukai in surprise, but before she could say anything, the silver-haired boy planted his lips on hers and kissed her...

And she completely melted, the flowers dropping right out of her little hands.

Eyes closing, she shivered as he pressed his mouth firmly on hers and gently kissed her before pulling back, looking at her flushed cheeks and puckered lips, and with a smirk, decided that he actually_ liked_ kissing – but then the magical moment was broken by his irritating sibling as Inuyasha gagged and then yelled, "Gross!" in his squeaky, loud five year old voice.

Now that he had kissed Kagome, that meant she was his wife, and that all the boys now knew she was his and off-limits - including a very dejected looking wolf prince - and so, without further ado, he took off after his brat of a brother, determined to pound him into the ground for interrupting such a beautiful moment as his first kiss with his Kagome.

Because it would most definitely not be his last, he decided with an inward sneaky little boy smirk.

Her pretty blush and closed eyes with her inky lashes laying across her little cheeks and puckered lips flashed across his mind again.

Nope, it would most _certainly_ not be the last time he kissed his little miko.

And the next time he had to go to one of those weddings, he wouldn't scoff when the man said that the guy could kiss his woman, either.

Touga, who'd watched the whole thing with wide eyes, barely able to keep from laughing, crying, and/or taking LOTS of pictures, finally unfroze enough to chase after his sons when Inuyasha began yelling – it seemed his heir had caught up with his little brother and was proceeding to pound him.

Much as the daiyoukai could sympathize with his older son about being interrupted at such an important moment, he would still like to be able to claim he had _two_ sons, and so he hurried off to save his youngest from his eldest's wrath...

All while knowing he'd most likely be doing the same thing for most of the rest of his life.

He sighed... it would get old after a while...

_But that kiss was just too cute!_


	5. Little Sesshoumaru and the Fake Divorce

**Little Sesshoumaru and the Fake Divorce Lawyer**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

~oOo~

It had been about a week since Sesshoumaru had kissed his Kagome and made her his wife. In that time, he'd been quite thankful to Ayame for the idea, and had been trying to decide on a suitable gift. In order to do the job properly, as Sesshoumaru always did _everything_, however, he decided that he needed to get to know the little wolf princess better, since just giving her some random gift wouldn't be a true measure of his gratitude for the excellent job she'd done in helping him cement his hold on his female – and get rid of the scent of smelly wolf pelt on her.

In an effort to do just that, he'd begun spending more time with her – but without thinking about it, he'd been letting Kagome spend that same time with her friend little Sango, and _without_ him.

It hadn't occurred to him that this might cause problems...

Now, little Kouga might be annoying, but he wasn't stupid, and this situation looked like a promising circumstance in his quest to steal Kagome from Sesshoumaru. On top of that, he'd hooked up with a new kid, a devious little hanyou named Naraku, who had not hit it off with the haughty Sesshoumaru at all, and wanted to throw a wrench into the spoiled little Western Heir's life. On their side, also, was little Kagura, and little Kanna, who wanted to break up the perfect couple of little Sesshoumaru and little Kagome – for obvious reasons.

Little Naraku, whose father was a very wealthy divorce lawyer, had listened to the tale of the 'wedding' with scarce hidden interest – and then eyed the silver-haired Sesshoumaru as he wandered around with little Ayame, paying almost no attention to little Kagome. It didn't take him long to come up with a plan, and taking his newfound friend into a quiet corner of the playground, he whispered his plan to him. Little Kouga was, needless to say, ecstatic at what the red-eyed boy was telling him, and nodded, his blue eyes lighting up.

Both boys wandered back out onto the playground looking as inconspicuous as possible, and little Kouga quietly and slowly inched his way close to the object of his affections, hoping and praying that little Sesshoumaru was too busy kissing up to little Ayame, the object of his nightmares, to notice.

This time, luck was with him, and he finally was able to bask in little Kagome's presence...

But he had a role to play, and it was time to get to it, so with a light scowl on his face, he looked at little Kagome and asked, "Did Sesshoumaru decide he didn't want you anymore or something? Because now all the time he's always all over Ayame. That's called cheating, and it's not nice."

Little Kagome's eyes opened wide, and then she looked at little Sesshoumaru across the playground listening intently to something the little red-headed wolf was saying, before looking back at little Kouga. "W-what do you mean? What's cheating?"

"Cheating is what he's doing!" he exclaimed. "He said you were his woman, right?" At her nod, he continued. "But now he's ignoring you and chasing her. He doesn't want you anymore, he wants her, and that's wrong and mean. It's like two-timing!"

Eyes suddenly tearing up, little Kagome's lower lip wobbled, and then she started to cry. "But... but we're married! He kissed me! Now what do I do if he doesn't want me?"

Little Sango, who'd listened with dawning horror to what little Kouga was saying, patted her friend's back and glared across the playground at an oblivious little Sesshoumaru, not sure what to say. She looked at little Kouga with hope. "Do you know what she should do?" she asked. He seemed to know all about this cheating thing, so maybe he'd know what to do about it.

That was what little Kouga had been waiting for. He nodded. "Yes. You have to get a d-divorce. That means that you aren't married to him anymore," he said, trying his darndest to keep from grinning. Little Naraku had been right – it was working!

"How do I do this divorce t-thing, then?" little Kagome whimpered, very, very hurt.

Kouga tugged on her arm and began to lead her to little Naraku. "Little Naraku can help you. His dad's a... a law-yer, he said, and he knows how to do those divorces. He'll take care of you, and then you can forget all about this cheating thing."

Trailed quietly by little Sango, little Kagome and little Kouga made it back across the playground to little Naraku, who had been watching the progress of his little scheme with avid eyes. He waited for little Kouga to introduce him, and then finish his part by telling him of little Sesshoumaru's supposed 'cheating'.

Little Naraku nodded thoughtfully at the tale, his face arranged in the same solemn manner as he always saw his father's as he would leave in the morning to go to work, and when Kouga finished his explanations, he said, "So you want to divorce him?" When little Kagome hesitantly nodded, he returned it. "Then I can take care of that. I will speak to him as your law-yer, and tell him that you're not his woman anymore."

Still crying, little Kagome gulped out a sad little "Okay," and without further ado, a smirking little Naraku made his way across the playground to little Sesshoumaru and cleared his throat importantly. When the silver-headed boy looked over at him disdainfully, Naraku said, "I am rep-present-ting miss Kagome as her law-yer. You have been caught cheating on her, and she is divorcing you. That means that she is not your woman anymore."

With that, little Naraku turned and made his self-important way back to the little group that was standing across the grounds, little Sango still trying to comfort a teary blue-eyed miko, his evil plans complete – the couple were now divorced, and he'd thrown that wrench he'd wanted to right into little Sesshoumaru's perfect little life.

Now, divorce wasn't a word that little Sesshoumaru had ever heard before, his father managing to keep his son from learning it in his own divorce from his son's mother, but he wasn't a brilliantly smart boy for nothing, and he'd caught what little Naraku had said about her not being his wife anymore – it was just like his mother wasn't his father's wife anymore. What confused him was the whole 'cheating' thing. What was he cheating at?

Determined to find out exactly what was going on, and take back his little Kagome, who he now noticed was crying, little Sesshoumaru stomped across the yard, and confronted the group standing there and demanded to know just what he was cheating at – and why his woman was 'divorcing' him for it.

Little Naraku sniffed haughtily. "You have spent several days with some other girl, leaving miss Kagome alone. That's cheating, and that means that you don't want her anymore, so that's why she divorced you. So now you can go away, cheater."

Snarling, little Sesshoumaru started to say something to little Kagome, but the others all surrounded her and pushed him away, and with a smirk, little Naraku stuck out his tongue at little Sesshoumaru and whispered, "That's what you get, baka. You should have been nice to me."

While little Kagome and little Sango didn't hear it, little Sesshoumaru certainly did, and suddenly, he got a calculating look on his face, and turned away to go talk to the one person that could help him out of this mess – his father. It was clear to him that this was a nasty game that stupid hanyou was playing, trying to get him back for what he'd said to him about how he smelled when he'd met him. But the hanyou had made the mistake of messing with the one thing guaranteed to make him angrier than anything else, and that was the female he'd chosen as his.

It was time to one-up that little bastard and take his Kagome back. (Though he would never actually say such a word, of course, since it was beneath him, that didn't stop him from thinking it.)

It didn't take him long to apprise his sire of what was going on, and he was suitably pleased with the seriousness with which his father greeted his news. And it wasn't long before the two had cooked up a nice little scheme to get not only Naraku back for his nasty game, but take his Kagome back, as well.

Walking calmly back over to the group of huddling kids, he cleared his own throat, and then loudly said, "This is just to inform you that you, Naraku, and you, Kouga, are both being sued. As the heir to the Western Lord, such lies as you have both leveled against me are considered very slanderous, and are taken with the utmost seriousness by myself and my father. Your parents will be contacted by my father's team of lawyers very shortly."

Kouga had never heard the word 'sued' before – but he understood what lies were quite well – and the fact that his parents were about to find out what he'd been up to. Not only would they be furious that he was caught out telling lies about the Western Heir, but that he'd done it because he liked Kagome, when he knew very well that they had betrothed him to Ayame when he was born, would really land him in hot water, and he cringed, his little tail beginning to lash in agitation as he began to realize that he'd really done it this time.

As for little Naraku, _he_ had a pretty good idea what 'sued' meant, since his father had talked about that kind of thing before. It usually meant that someone was going to lose a LOT of money... and suddenly, he was re-thinking what he'd just done. Because one thing his father always took most seriously was money, and especially the loss of it. The lying he could care less about, since lawyers spent most of their time lying, anyway. His father had told him more than once that in the world of law, the best liars made the most money – but he'd just proved that he wasn't quite up to his father's standards for lying, and it was going to cost his sire a lot of money. That meant that it was going to cost _him_ a lot of toys.

Christmas this year was going to _suck._

Both little boys began to sputter, but before they could really begin to spit out any excuses, or more lies, little Kagome, who'd been listening to all of it with wide eyes, spoke up, her sweet voice soft and uncertain.

"They were lying?" she asked, wide eyes meeting Sesshoumaru's solemn golden ones hopefully.

He inclined his head, a serious expression on his face. "Yes. I was not doing that 'cheating' thing, I was merely trying to get an idea of what little Ayame would like as a gift for her part in helping us get married. That is not 'cheating'. I would not decide that I no longer wanted you. We are still courting, remember? Getting married does not change that."

Little Kagome started to smile at him, her tears drying up, but then he caught a familiar expression on her little face as she turned on the two boys that were still trying to get out excuses, and cut loose.

"How could you, Kouga! I thought you were nicer than that, but that was just mean! And you, too, Naraku. I'm never going to believe anything you guys say ever _again_!" she stormed, watching with satisfaction as little Sango, followed by little Ayame, who was irate at Kouga for trying to sneak Kagome away from Sesshoumaru when he _knew_ he was betrothed to her, began to chase them with her boomerang. That thing hurt, as little Miroku could attest to – he'd gotten banged with it yesterday by accident, and that was why he wasn't at playgroup today; he had a big headache and a lump on his head because of it.

Sesshoumaru also watched with a satisfied air as the two boys ran for their lives from the angry little Sango and little Ayame. As far as he was concerned, they deserved it. He wiped his hands together and said, "And that should take care of them. It is to be hoped that they have learned not to mess with this Sesshoumaru again, because I will always win."

Little Kagome turned at the sound of his voice, and started to tear up again as she realized that even though the two boys had lied about him cheating, she had still agreed to their 'divorce'. "B-but... 'Shoumaru, now we're divorced," she wailed. "What are we gonna do?"

He reached out and tugged her hand, pulling her into a hug with a satisfied smirk. "Do not worry, my Kagome. We are not divorced. I asked father, and he said that little Naraku isn't a lawyer, his father is, so whatever he said doesn't count. Everything is alright," he soothed the little girl as his proud, though flabbergasted father watched on.

Touga couldn't believe this days work. When his son had come to him and told him what had happened, he'd had a hard time not falling to the ground with laughter. It was so _difficult_ to keep in the hysterical laughter that wanted to come out, along with the fact that the two could _hardly_ be divorced by the son of a lawyer, when their 'marriage', performed by the son of a monk, wasn't even valid in the first place!

He knew better than to say such a thing to his son, however, because that would just cause all sorts of havoc. No... it was just better to pretend that this 'marriage' was the real deal, and help his son sort out the two obnoxious little boys that had started this whole episode. The lawsuit bit had just been too good to pass up, and he'd hoped that little Naraku knew that word – which it appeared he did, from his reaction. And even little Kouga – though not knowing that particular word, he understood 'lying' and 'parents' well enough.

But by the gods... he was going to keep every bit of this summer in his memories, and when his uptight little son grew up, he was going to haul it out and use it to torment him anytime he started getting out of hand. Yes... this summer was providing absolute gold in terms of blackmail...

Perhaps he should bring his camcorder to playgroup? It would certainly be much better to have video footage rather than just memories...

And much more damaging.

He chuckled. He could hardly wait for Sesshoumaru to grow up...

~oOo~

A/N: Well, this one took a while, didn't it? I just couldn't come up with any good ideas, until I was re-reading Little Sesshoumaru's First Kiss earlier, and the ridiculous idea of a devious little Naraku and divorce lawyers came into my head. Hope everyone gets a laugh out of the insanity...

Amber


	6. Little Sesshoumaru Gets a Little Sister

**Little Sesshoumaru Gets a Little Sister**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha – but as of Tuesday I do own the first 13 episodes of the English dub of The Final Act! Yay! Only one more DVD and my collection is complete!

~oOo~

Kagome sighed as she looked at Sango, who shook her head and echoed her little friend's sigh. Then they both looked across the playground at the group of kids on that side, who were all huddled together and muttering and staring across to this side of the grounds, just like the kids on this side were doing in return.

It had all started with Little Kouga and Little Naraku's divorce scheme. That had really made her Sesshoumaru angry, and he had started making sure they knew they weren't welcome anywhere he or Kagome were. And as each child on the playground had his or her own special friends, as well as enemies, it had soon spiraled into this – a polarized playground where everyone stayed on their side and scowled and glared at everyone on the other side.

On _their_ side was Sesshoumaru, who was, of course, the leader of their group, followed by Kagome. His little brother Inuyasha was next, and then her best friend Sango. And of course, because Sango was on this side, so was Miroku – everyone knew that those two went together, just like she and Sesshoumaru – mostly because little Miroku had finally gotten little Sango to give up trying to get away from him, since it never worked. And then there was little Shippo, and Kagome's other friends little Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka. There was also little Ayame, who was still the only wolf that Sesshoumaru actually liked. Last, and _definitely_ least, there was the little mini-toad Jaken, who wasn't really part of the group as a friend – no, he was more there for comic relief and to run and fetch for Sesshoumaru, who he spent most of his time on the ground before, groveling and praising. When it would finally start to get to be too much, Sesshoumaru would boot the toad across the playground to a neutral area, and for as long as it took the toad to recover and then make his way back, there would be peace again.

On the other side of the playground, there was Kouga, the little wolf-prince, and his underlings Ginta and Hakkaku, and little Naraku, and_ his _underlings, a towering – to small children, anyway - and misshapen hanyou named Goshinki, and a weird little youkai named Byakuya, who was an illusion-youkai. He had a long way to go before he was any good at them, though... most of the time, his attempts at illusions backfired – spectacularly. Then there was Kagura and Kanna, of course, Kagura still determined to break little Sesshoumaru and little Kagome up so that she could have him. And there was another little girl, one who didn't seem to like clothes much, since she was always stripping down to barely anything at all, named Yura.

They were the baddies, as Inuyasha called them, and it was true – they always did seem to be causing trouble in one way or another. Sesshoumaru was quite diligent in keeping any of those troublemakers away from Kagome, and she was very glad that was so – after that nasty trick that Kouga and Naraku had played on her, telling her that her Sesshoumaru didn't want her anymore and was cheating on her, she didn't really want to hang around them. But it was just too bad that they were like that – it kind of sucked that the playground was so divided in half the way it was. She really preferred it when people got along.

"I wonder what trouble they're cooking up this time over there, since that's all they do, anyway," Sango muttered, and Kagome shook her head while Ayumi, Eri, Yuka, and Ayame all nodded in agreement.

"It does not matter. They are beneath us, so do not pay them any attention," Sesshoumaru's lofty voice commanded, and the girls all turned to look at him in curiosity.

"So what else should we do, then?" Ayame chirped. "I'm getting bored."

A chorus of voices agreed with the little wolf princess, Inuyasha's the loudest (of course), and Sesshoumaru sniffed. "Are there not many other things to do?" he asked. "Must I always think of everything?" When no one said anything, he sighed. "Fine. We may play Tag."

It didn't take long for the group to take up the suggestion, and within minutes, their side of the playground was quite noisy with the sounds of children having a good time – including Sesshoumaru, as surprising as that still was to his sire, since, as a predatory inuyoukai, he quite enjoyed chasing things – or people, especially Kagome – down. (Of course, whether he was it or not, he was always chasing Kagome around, anyway, and having a blast doing it, laughing wholeheartedly. Touga hadn't even been sure that Sesshoumaru knew _how_ to laugh – at least, not without it being loaded with sarcasm.)

All was good on their side of the grounds for some time as they all played, none of them noticing the advent of a new child onto the playground.

Little Rin was a year or so younger than most of those already in this particular playgroup, and a little naïve for all that – meaning she didn't seem to know how to tell the good guys from the baddies. And just as it always seemed to happen, the sweet, innocent little girl found herself suddenly surrounded by baddies – and Kouga, who was feeling the need to flex his nonexistent muscles, decided she would be the perfect victim to bully to make himself feel better.

In his need to be the big bad wolf, however, he had kind of forgotten that human children were quite a bit more delicate than youkai children, and within moments, the little girl was on the ground, bleeding and unconscious – and he and his little minions suddenly couldn't get away from her fast enough. True, it wasn't as bad as it looked – she'd fainted from fear, not injury, and she didn't really have much in the way of injuries, either – just a few scratches that would heal quickly, even for a human. But they didn't know that, and it didn't take long for the scent of blood to catch Sesshoumaru's attention.

Scenting wolf – his least favorite smell, not counting Ayame – mixed with terror and blood, the mini-daiyoukai tracked down the source of those scents at about the same time as his father did, and Touga scowled angrily just as his son knelt down next to the little human child. His father disappeared for a moment and then reappeared and was just about to bend down over the child to press a cold compress to her forehead when the rest of the playground surrounded them, curious children staring with big eyes at the little girl on the ground. Before he could even speak, every kid on the playground turned en masse and pointed at the little wolf cub trying to hide at the back, and yelled, "He did it!"

Frustrated, the inuyoukai was about to snarl out orders for the other kids to go play so he could take care of the little girl, since he could smell quite well who'd done it, when his son took the cloth from his hand and said, "You should go catch that smelly wolf so he doesn't scare her again. I will take care of her."

Surprised, Touga stared at his son for a moment and then nodded. "I think I'll just do that," he agreed with a nasty smirk on his face at the thought of getting his hands on that irritating wolf cub – _and_ his father. With Kouga's actions – and Touga's videotape - his father wouldn't be able to defend him, and this time the obnoxious little brat would get his due.

After making sure all the other kids disbursed, Touga went after Kouga, while Sesshoumaru pressed the cloth to the little girl's head and waited for her to wake, while little Kagome and little Sango also came over and helped to clean her up a little, gently wiping her scratches up so at least she wasn't getting blood on her clothes or anything.

It took a few minutes, but just as little Sesshoumaru lifted the girl's torso up a little to protect her eyes from the sun, her lashes fluttered and she opened her eyes, looking straight up into the golden ones of the youkai above her. Sesshoumaru braced for the scream he was sure was about to come, but instead, the little girl just smiled up at him with huge trusting, brown eyes that he couldn't seem to look away from.

They looked the same as Jaken's always did – swirling with something very close to worship, but he found that, unlike when Jaken looked at him that way, he wasn't annoyed. Instead, it made something inside preen, and he puffed up a little as she smiled at him.

"Hi. I'm Morita Rin," she whispered, "what's your name?"

"I am Taisho Sesshoumaru," he said kindly, surprising his father once again as he approached after having taken a cringing Kouga to the parent's circle, where the parents who were staying to watch the kids could sit and mingle. The boy would be kept under very stern eyes until his parents could come pick him up. "Come, sit up now. Are you okay?" he asked.

The little girl obliged him readily, sitting up, though her smile faded as she remembered what had happened earlier. She nodded unsteadily, trapping her little lip between her teeth as she tried not to cry. It was then that she caught sight of little Kagome and little Sango, and Touga, as well.

"I'm okay... but that wolf... where did he go?" she asked fearfully, looking around hesitantly.

It was Kagome that answered. She flounced closer with a scowl on her face as she flicked a fierce glare towards the parent's circle, where she could see Kouga looking their way. The little boy paled and flinched at the look, his little tail hanging behind him limply as he realized that his actions had seriously pissed off the object of his affections.

"Don't you worry about that little bully, Rin-chan," she said as she knelt down next to Sesshoumaru and the little girl, Sango following. "He won't ever come near you again if he knows what's good for him! I'll sic Ayame on him – in fact, I'm going to do it anyway."

"W-who's Ayame?" Rin stuttered, and then belatedly asked, "And who're you?"

"Oh!" Little Kagome blushed as little Sesshoumaru smirked at her. "I'm Higurashi Kagome, and this is Takeda Sango. And Ayame is the little girl over there wearing white – she's a wolf, too, but she's not like Kouga, she's really nice," she hurried to console the girl who had started to look frightened again at the mention of wolves. "Kouga actually belongs to Ayame, but he's being a jerk lately, and she's going to be really, really mad when she finds out that he did this to you." She snickered, actually finding the thought of what Kouga was going to get from little Ayame funny, though she usually wasn't like that, this time the little brat _really_ deserved it.

At that point Touga stepped in, though he also fully loved the idea of Kouga getting his comeuppance from the fierce little white wolf princess who was rapidly approaching once again, determined to find out what was going on and why Kouga had been led away. "Hello, little Rin-chan," Touga said, his deep voice calm and soothing to the little one whose eyes had widened on him. "Are you okay? Do you need to go see the nurse?"

Rin slowly shook her head, awed. This youkai was big, but he felt... nice, for lack of a better word. Safe. She knew he wouldn't hurt her, just like the younger little youkai male that had held her and helped her. She could tell that the big youkai was Sesshoumaru's father, and that made him safe. Anyone connected to Sesshoumaru had to be safe. And in the mind of a tiny little girl, adoration was born.

Sesshoumaru was just what an older brother should be – something she'd missed having since her own older brother, Seishiro, had died protecting her. It had happened barely a year ago – they were in a car crash, and her brother had thrown himself on top of her, which had saved her life – and ended his. He would always be her hero, and now Sesshoumaru was placed next to him on the pedestal she'd put him on.

"I-I'm okay," she finally managed to squeak out, as Touga chuckled at her wide-eyed stare.

"Do you wish me to call your parents and have them come and get you?" he asked then, frowning at the sudden sad look on her little face.

"I... I don't have parents anymore," she whispered, to his consternation. "My parents died in a car crash. I've been staying with different people a lot. After they get tired of taking care of me, they send me to other people, or sometimes back to the orphanage. I'm staying there now because the last lady that I stayed with... um... she hit me."

Normally, she wouldn't tell anyone all that, but with these two, she just felt safe and like she could tell them without getting in trouble. She saddened, then – she wished with all her heart that she could stay with these two, where she would be safe like she hadn't been since the day her family died.

Sesshoumaru growled at that, for some reason feeling very protective of this little human girl – like he was of Kagome, but for different reasons. He didn't see this little girl as a future mate, as he did with Kagome, but like a little sister – which he would have much preferred having to his rotten little brother.

Touga was also bothered greatly by what he'd just heard, and he crouched down to the level of the little girl, her brown hair bunched up in a little side pony tail that was actually cute, and looked her over. His sharp eyes did not miss the signs of neglect on her once he was actually looking – she looked hungry, and sad, and her clothes were not the best, slightly ill-fitting and definitely donated. And she had a few fading bruises, as well.

"Father, you must do something about this," Sesshoumaru said, standing and helping little Rin to also stand up. Kagome and Sango also stood up to join the avidly listening Ayame, and the girls added their pleas to Sesshoumaru's demand.

"Yes, Inupapa, please help Rin-chan! It's not good to not have anyone to take care of you," Kagome added, big blue eyes blinking up at him pleadingly, and Touga immediately folded, not able to deny his future daughter-in-law anything.

"I will take care of everything, don't you worry, little Rin-chan. I will call my lawyer and you will come and live with me and my family," the daiyoukai said, knowing that his wife would also agree, and would have been throwing her voice in with the children had she been there, too. He smiled inwardly with affection at thought of his wife. "In the meantime, children, why don't you take Rin-chan and show her around the playground and introduce her to the other children, eh?"

The girls nodded and, chattering happily, took the little girl's hands and led her off, leaving Sesshoumaru behind. Touga looked down questioningly at his son.

"How are we going to prove what that wolf did to Rin-chan to his parents, father? They are always making excuses for him, especially if there's no _proof_ he did something," the little boy growled.

Touga smirked wickedly, then, his eyes twinkling. "Oh, don't you worry about that, my boy. How do you think I knew something was wrong and came running? I was videotaping the playground and caught it all on tape."

Pleased, Sesshoumaru didn't even think to ask why his parent was videotaping the playground, too caught up in the enjoyable thoughts of what was going to happen to a wolf that had been caught in an indisputable way being a terrible bully. He simply nodded to his sire and turned and wandered off after little Kagome and the others, leaving Touga to get busy calling his lawyer to get an order of custody for little Rin.

"He _what?_!" was the first thing to assault Sesshoumaru's ears as he approached his group once more, only to see a _very_ agitated little Ayame listening with a fierce glare to what little Rin and little Kagome were telling her. "Where is that little brat?" she yelled, taking off and disappearing into a mini-dust devil as she sped across the playground, tracking Kouga's scent as the rest of the group watched in wide-eyed amazement.

Unable to resist, Sesshoumaru rushed over to the fence closest to the parent's circle, determined not to miss out on any of the action even as the rest of the kids all followed. Kagome and Rin crowded right next to him against the fence avidly watching as little Ayame dropped out of her speedy little funnel cloud right in front of a cringing and now definitely terrified little Kouga.

"_What did you think you were doing to that little girl, Kouga?_!" Ayame shouted fiercely at little Kouga – a little Kouga that was now trying to get far, far away from a little wolf princess that was quite irate – and holding onto his tail with angry little claws that wouldn't budge no matter how hard his little legs churned. "That was totally mean, and I'm gonna tell my grandfather, and he'll make _sure _your parents punish you!"

"I was jus' tryin' to scare her a little!" he shrieked finally in abject fear, as he cowered before the fuming white mini-wolf. "I didn't mean to hurt her! I swear!"

That made little Ayame so mad that she clonked little Kouga over the head with an - apparently – heavy fist, twice no less, raising two nice big lumps on his head as she screamed, "You bully!" and it was his turn to go lights out and land face first in the dirt.

That was a day that no one who was there would ever forget; a tiny, red-headed little wolf princess peeling the hide off of a terrified and whimpering little wolf prince for his transgressions. Not even his parents knew what to say when they arrived and saw what was going on – and they didn't dare to try to claim that their son was innocent, either – not with little Ayame screaming her head off at him for daring to bully a little human girl, drawing her blood and making her faint.

In the end, they didn't even ask to see proof, they just took Ayame at her word, and you could see the angry glares the wolf Lord and his wife were soon sending their son, who by that time had woken from his Ayame induced faint and was a puddle of terrified goo on the ground. His downfall was the fact that Ayame attended the same playgroup as he did, because no matter how much the Wolf Lord and his wife didn't like to ever admit that their son might have done something wrong, they didn't dare call Ayame a liar – tiny or not. She was not only their son's betrothed, but she was the princess of her clan – a much larger clan than Kouga's, with more power. To offend Ayame's grandfather, the leader of that clan, would be a _very bad thing. _Not to mention that the little girl their son had harassed was about to be adopted by the powerful Western Lord – and _no one_ wanted to be on _his_ bad side, Kouga's father gulping at the glare Touga was sending him as he dragged his whimpering son off.

As for little Rin? That day, besides the rather terrifying beginning of it, ended up being the best day of her life, for on that day, she found a most wonderful big brother, and a loving, caring family that took her in and and treated her like she was born to them. And the best part was that they didn't just take her in as a foster child, but they actually adopted her. Touga, after finding out her background, and how much her family had loved her, honored her with his last name – but didn't take her parent's name from her, instead, he hyphenated it, naming her Morita-Taisho Rin.

Touga patted his little camcorder as he looked across the playground at a smiling and laughing Rin, a smile crossing his face at the sight of the little girl playing so happily, surrounded by her new brothers and their friends. _I'll never forget today... and someday, I'll bring this video out and let the kids see it and remember this day, too._

He chuckled. _And to think, the only reason that today will be preserved forever is because I've been videotaping the kids so I'll have blackmail potential on Sesshoumaru. In the end, that's all because of Kagome, too... so I've got Kagome-chan to thank for everything wonderful that's happened this summer. She's socialized Sesshoumaru, helped he and his brother to get along better, showed Satori up – _he snickered at that, wishing he'd caught_ that_ moment on camera – _made my life interesting as hell, given me loads of blackmail for later use against my sons, and even given me the gift of the daughter I've always wanted and never thought I'd get after we learned that Izayoi could never have another child._

_Yes, today has been quite the day... I wonder what's going to happen here tomorrow? _

"Hm... I think that's actually a dangerous question. I'm almost afraid of the answer," he chuckled to himself as he answered his ringing phone and spoke to his lawyer, who was letting him know that as of this moment, he had temporary custody of one Morita Rin, and within the week adoption proceedings would be closed and he could officially name her his since she had no living relatives and the government would be quite pleased to hand her over to someone of such standing.

_Quite the day, _he thought once more as he called his wife and told her all about their new daughter.

_This playgroup was the best idea I've ever had._

~oOo~

A/N: Okay, this one's more sweet than actually funny, but hey, I tried to introduce Rin into the story in a way that was as close to canon as possible in this way far out A/U. Next up... Sesshoumaru and posse meet the 'Band of Seven'!

(That one should be a LOT more humorous than this one.)

For those Americans out there, Happy Turkey Day 2012!

Amber


	7. The Little Taisho Brothers and the Daddy

**The Little Taisho Brothers and the Daddy Scare**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

~oOo~

Little Naraku scowled across the playground at Little Sesshoumaru as he arrived at playgroup for the day and sauntered over to join his compatriots on their side of the playground.

He'd been steaming and plotting since Little Sesshoumaru had bested his beautiful 'divorce' scheme and gotten him into so much hot water with his father. Just as he'd known, his male parent hadn't been angry that he'd lied or that he'd set up such a scheme – no, he'd actually been amused at the little plot itself – but he'd been angry that his son had not only failed at it, but at who he'd been plotting against. Not that he would be averse to causing the Western Lord or his family problems, because he hated anyone that was untouchable and out of his reach, but that didn't change the fact that Touga and his entire clan _were_ untouchable... and now he was going to have trouble trying to weasel out of what his son had weaseled them into.

But Little Naraku, despite the prospects for a nice Christmas going downhill with every new scheme he cooked up, just couldn't fathom giving up. There had to be a way to get that arrogant little Sesshoumaru! And sooner or later, he would find it, he swore (not that he'd dare do that out loud, of course). He wouldn't give up until he had that brat on his knees and crying!

Muttering belligerently to himself, he wasn't really aware of the commotion on the playground for a little bit as every other child stopped what he or she was doing to stare at the gate into the play area as a group of little boys (and was that a little girl, or not?) entered the playground with interest. Who were these guys (girl)?

Little Sesshoumaru, over on the opposite side of the playground from Little Naraku noticed the newcomers just fine, and his eyes narrowed on the swaggering little boys and girl? as they entered the area and looked around with smirks. Moving right to the front of his group, he made sure his youki flaring and his dangerous expression let them know that they weren't welcome on his side – they were trouble, just like the rest of the baddies, he could tell right off – and watched with even narrower eyes as they stared boldly back at him, even though they did stop coming closer.

The leader of the group seemed to be a slender boy with a long black braid down his back, and even though they all looked to be human he had an odd marking on his forehead, leaving Sesshoumaru to wonder if he was hanyou, instead. Though strangely enough, he couldn't really feel any youki from any of them, either, but something about them all just seemed to be off. (And that wasn't even counting the strangely dressed one - the one that he couldn't tell the gender of for certain. It smelled male, but looked female.)

There was the leader, and then another relatively small boy with a bald head, another boy that was just a bit bigger than the other two, who smelled strangely like two different people, and then a huge, hulking boy that was easily as large as that ugly hanyou Goshinki that followed Little Naraku around. The fifth one was also very tall, though more gangly, the sixth was the girly looking one, and the seventh was short and squat, with bulging eyes and a wide mouth. All in all, a very odd and mostly ugly group of boys. (And girl?)

He looked away from his study of the new group as the scent of his sweet Little Kagome came up from behind him and peeked around at the group of boys with strangely wary eyes. Little Sesshoumaru noticed that immediately, as Kagome was invariably trusting and friendly to pretty much everyone.

"Um, 'Shoumaru... those boys are kinda weird, don't you think?" she asked hesitantly, looking up at him with her innocent, wide blue eyes. She shivered a bit and clutched his arm, moving closer to him as they all looked at her. It was obvious she was very nervous about the newcomers. He looked over his shoulder at the rest of his group and was very interested in their reactions – even the rather aggressive Little Sango and Little Ayame were staring suspiciously and warily at the new group. In fact, the only one who didn't seem to notice the caution of everyone else was – who else – his idiot younger sibling, Inuyasha.

"Hey, Sesshoumaru... who are those creepy kids?" his brother asked loudly, drawing the attention of the entire weird group.

Before he could answer, the oddly dressed one that he was still not able to decide the gender of gave a loud squeal and dashed towards them, practically throwing itself at his little brother with an excited yell of, "You're so kawaii!" as he/she? grabbed at Inuyasha's madly twitching canine ears.

He couldn't help but smirk at his brother's horrified yells of "Get it off me!" and his wild struggles to get away from the obviously fairly strong being. He wasn't having much luck until the one that Sesshoumaru had decided was the leader of the group came strutting over and pulled on the back of the being's clothes. "C'mon, Jakotsu, leave him alone. From the looks on this group's faces, they think they're too good for us, so we'll be taking ourselves off to find another place to play."

Well, that answered the question of what gender the offender currently molesting his younger brother's ears was, but why would a boy allow himself to be dressed like a girl – and act like one, too?

"Hey, look, Bankotsu," one of the other boys said, "it's Naraku. Why don't we go play over there?"

Sesshoumaru's hackles rose at that name and he glared at the one who had spoken. "If you are friends with that hanyou," he lifted his nose in the air, "then you are definitely not wanted over here. Take yourselves off, for we have no use for yet more miscreants on our side," he finished, idly brushing a little bit of sand from his sleeve with a disapproving frown as he noticed it marring his normal immaculate perfection.

The entire group of little boys glared at him; though it was clear they didn't understand several of his words, 'not wanted' was clear enough. The one now known as Bankotsu clenched his fists and glared back at Sesshoumaru. "And who are you to tell us what to do?" he asked pugnaciously, looking quite ready to do battle – though he was startled into stumbling backwards when Little Kagome, who had been hiding behind her hero, got angry at the way that boy was daring to talk to her Sesshoumaru and dashed out from behind him with a fierce light in her normally mild blue eyes.

"He's Sesshoumaru-sama to you, that's who!" she yelled, startling the entire group of little boys into backing up, though the girlish one was still looking longingly after Inuyasha - who'd run for the back of the group as soon as that other boy had pulled the weird one off of him and was currently growling and snarling to himself as he tried to straighten his mussed clothing out. "You'd better go 'way like he said, 'cause we don't like baddies over here!"

Her shrill voice carried all over the playground, and as Naraku saw who she was yelling at, an evil little smirk crossed his face and he rushed across the yard to greet his school-time partners in crime, loftily ignoring the narrow-eyed look of danger he was getting from the Western Heir.

"Oi, Bankotsu, come over to the other side with me," he said, his smirk widening at the low growl that came from Sesshoumaru. "Those kids over here are no fun at all to play with."

Little Sesshoumaru didn't stop growling until the entire group was over on the other side of the playground. He really didn't like the look of those baddies, and just knew that they were going to be trouble. "Come, Kagome," he beckoned, taking her little hand in his own as pride washed through him at her courage, "they aren't worth our attention. Let's go play in the sandbox. I never did get to finish making my family's fortress for you to see the other day," he added. Whatever those little punks were up to, he didn't want them anywhere near any of his group, and especially not his Kagome.

She smiled up at him at that, her blue eyes sparkling with trust. "Okay," she said, always amenable to whatever he asked of her, and followed him over to the large sandbox to help him build his fortress.

However, before she could gather her bucket and shovel from their spot set neatly against the fence, another disturbance near the entrance of the park had her coming to a halt as two boys strode in, and she grinned and took off without another thought towards them, to Sesshoumaru's consternation. He scowled – they kind of looked like that nasty group of boys that had just showed up – one was skinny and with a long black braid, and the other was overly large and bald and looked like a fish out of water.

"Oi, Hiten, Manten!" the little girl called, waving madly, and the two boys looked over at hearing her. Wide smiles broke out on the faces of both and they scurried over to greet her. "I didn't know you guys were going to come to playgroup this year!" she chirped cheerfully as Little Sango trotted over to join her friend, obviously also knowing the two boys.

Sesshoumaru, now staring with narrow eyes at the two almost stomped over to plaster himself to Little Kagome's side with a petulant glower that made her blush when she realized that she'd basically just ditched him to run over to her friends. "Oh! I'm sorry, 'Shoumaru," she said in a tiny voice that always made him feel all funny and gooey inside. "I was just excited to see my friends here at 'group. I usually don't see Hiten and Manten until we go back to school. Sango's friends with them, too."

"Hn. I have heard of you – you are the Thunder Brothers, are you not?" he asked, suspicious. Why would his little Kagome be friends with baddies?

"Yeah, so?" the skinny, black-haired one asked almost pugnaciously. "We're the Thunder Brothers and we're friends with Kagome. We 'tect her at school from bullies 'cause the bullies are scared of us. Who are you, anyway?"

"I am Sesshoumaru, heir to the Western Lord," the little boy replied, a little haughtily, though he could not bring himself to truly fight with anyone who would protect his Kagome from baddies and bullies.

Both little boys eyes widened at that; everyone knew who the Western Lord was – and by extension, the heir. "So what are ya doin' with Kagome?" Hiten asked, it being his turn to be suspicious.

"I am courting her, that's what I am doing with her," he returned correctly, looking proud as Kagome blushed and the other two looked awed.

"Courting?" Manten rumbled, surprised. "We're just kids – we're too young to be courting, that's only for adults!"

Hiten elbowed his brother. "No we ain't, stupid. Look at little sister and that fox she's always chasing. I think the adults just tell us that 'cause they don't want to answer our questions about girls 'n boys and courting and stuff. That's why they always turn red whenever we try to ask 'bout that... and even where babies come from." He lowered his voice conspiratorially as the children gathered around him looked interested – especially Little Miroku, who had just sidled up to them. "We all know that mating comes after courting, right?" At the nods from around him, he continued, his voice dropping to a whisper. "I think that babies come after mating but the 'dults don't want us to know that. I haven't figured out why they all act so stupid about it, though. Why's it such a big secret, anyways?"

There were confused and agreeing murmurs from around him as the children all pondered that. He was probably right, Sesshoumaru conceded, especially when he thought about how his father had acted when he'd first asked about the courting and mating rights of Inu. He'd blushed and stammered and looked shocked to hear such a question – and come to think of it, he frowned, when his father had told him that he'd soon have a baby brother and he'd asked him where he would be coming from, his sire had acted the same way.

"Hn... I think you're right," he said, adding the information about his father's confusion and embarrassment when he'd asked where his brother was going to come from.

Kagome blinked wide eyes, remembering her own mother's blush when she'd asked where her baby brother was coming from. "But mama told me that the stork brought my brother Souta," she said, a cute look of curiosity on her face. "I think the parents just call the storks and order a new baby whenever they want one – kinda like when they call and order take out pizza. But they don't blush when they do that, so why's a baby any different?"

Meanwhile, Little Naraku and his cohorts were listening in quite blatantly to the topic of conversation, and all the talk about babies had gotten him thinking. He knew all about divorces and alimony and child support from listening to his dad talk... and the whole thing had just given him an idea. If Little Kagome was right and all a person had to do was call someplace and order a baby, then he had the perfect idea to get Little Sesshoumaru.

"Hey, Kagura," the naughty little boy said as she listened to the talk with fascination, "I know how you could get Little Sesshoumaru to pay attention to you," he said, and instantly he was the focus of the entire group.

"How?" the little girl demanded, her red eyes sparkling at the idea of making Little Sesshoumaru and Little Kagome break up. He couldn't be paying attention to the little human brat if he was paying attention to her, instead.

"All you have to do is tell Sesshoumaru that you ordered a baby and that he's going to be the father. And then he'll have to pay attention to you, because you'll have a baby to take care of," he said, an evil little grin making him look just like his daddy. "And if he doesn't, then you can sue him and make him give you lots of money. My dad does it all the time."

Before little Kagura could say anything, Little Jakotsu piped up and the entire group tittered at what he said. "Hey, then I can order a baby and make that kawaii Inuyasha be the daddy and pay attention to me, too! This is great!"

A little creeped out, nonetheless Little Naraku nodded and within moments, Little Bankotsu was dispatched to announce the ordering of babies and that the two Taisho boys would now be daddies whether they liked it or not.

Little Kagome's bottom lip wobbled and she burst into tears when she heard the news – she knew very well that babies needed two parents, and if Little Kagura had ordered a baby that was going to have Sesshoumaru as the daddy, then he would have to marry her, instead.

She was fairly quiet with her tears; however, the din that came from Inuyasha when he heard the news instantly brought the adults running, wondering just what the heck was going on for the little hanyou to be caterwauling in such a manner.

"What's the matter, son?" Touga asked, looking over his youngest son with worried eyes as the little boy carried on, his cries not diminishing in the least just because his father was there. "Why are you crying?" When he still didn't stop hollering and start talking, he looked to Sesshoumaru, frowning and confused to see him wrapped around an also crying Little Kagome and glaring across the yard at a smirking Little Kagura – and a happily grinning Little Jakotsu. "What in kami's name is going on?" he finally bellowed, frustrated.

"It's that stupid Little Kagura and Little Jakotsu," Little Sango said angrily, clutching at her boomerang. "They ordered babies and are making Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha be the daddies so they have to go over there and stay with them."

"I wonder if I can order a baby and make you be the mommy?" Little Miroku wondered aloud, looking right at Little Sango, who promptly knocked him over the head with said boomerang and watched with satisfaction as his eyes rolled up in his head and he went nighty-night.

"You can't just order a baby like takeout food," Touga finally managed to get out, incredulous and exasperated all at once at the ploys from that little troublemaking group across the way. Moving over to a very upset Little Sesshoumaru's side and awkwardly patting a still teary-eyed Little Kagome on the back in an attempt to soothe her, he glanced sternly at his youngest son, who was still carrying on like the world had ended. "Hush, Inuyasha. You aren't going to be a father – and besides, a baby needs a mother and a father, not two fathers. Two boys can't have a baby," he said, reddening a little as his youngest finally fell silent, the rest of the children staring curiously at him. Sesshoumaru looked as though he were about to start asking questions and he held up a hand for silence, not in any way ready to explain the truth behind where babies came from to his overly curious son – or his friends. "Don't start, son. Just be glad that having babies doesn't work the way you all thought it did. You'll learn about that subject when you're older. Now, why don't you all go back to doing what kids are supposed to do and play, and leave the baby duties to us adults?"

Sniffling, Little Kagome nodded and turned away to go to the sandbox, Little Hiten and Manten following along as Little Sesshoumaru clutched at her hand. When she did, she caught sight of Little Kagura staring across the playground and glared at her. "Stupid Kag'ra," she muttered. "One of these days I'm going to get her back for trying to make 'Shoumaru be the daddy for her baby."

"Do not concern yourself with that weakling, Kagome," Little Sesshoumaru said loftily. "She is not worth the time. Here," he said, handing her the shovel and bucket she'd abandoned when Hiten and Manten showed up. "Why don't you start gathering enough sand for us to make our fortress?"

Kagome nodded, and along with Little Sango and Little Ayame got busy making piles of sand, the familiar playtime activity eventually calming her down while Sesshoumaru watched over her.

"So what are we gonna do to get those jerks back for upsetting Kagome?" Little Manten asked his brother and the young Western Heir. "That was a really mean trick they played on you guys."

Little Sesshoumaru sniffed as he watched his father, with a very annoyed scowl, go stomping over to take a now sulky Little Naraku by the back of his shirt and haul him off to the parent's area. "My father will take care of it," he said, finally turning away to go join Kagome and the others in the sandbox. "Though it _was_ very funny to listen to my annoying brother howling loud enough to wake the dead," he added, paraphrasing something he'd heard his father say once and had taken a liking to.

The two boys snickered at that and followed the smirking little boy into the sandbox, and soon all of them had forgotten the whole thing as they proceeded to building a fortress that was as big as the entire sandbox.

Touga, on the other hand, hadn't forgotten a bit of the trouble the hanyou in his clutches had caused and loomed over the little brat with a terrifying grin that smacked of that disappearing Christmas he'd been thinking about earlier. "You keep this up, boy, and I'm going to own you and your father for the rest of your lives," he warned the suddenly cringing little boy. "And you can just sit right here next to me as I call my lawyer and he calls your father. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Pouting morosely, Little Naraku began counting the growing piles of coal he knew he'd be getting come December while all the other boys and girls were getting presents. He glared across the fence at a smug-looking Little Sesshoumaru.

"I'll get you yet, you jerk," he muttered belligerently under his breath. "Just you wait."

Touga scowled at the spider hanyou for a moment and then patted his ever-present video camera as his scowl turned to a grin, instead.

_Recording all this was the best idea I've ever come up with. Not only do I have proof when one of those little monsters does something bad, but I have proof that this stuff actually happened this summer to show Sesshoumaru and all the others when they get older._

_He's going to be so embarrassed someday – and so will Inuyasha. Maybe I can even send these in to Japan's Funniest Home Videos or something and make it even more embarrassing for them._

The thought of his uptight son and heir hiding his face in chagrin over his boyhood antics kept that grin on his face all through the rest of the day and into the evening, as he took the footage and filed it away with the rest in his rapidly growing digital collection and cheerfully readied the camera for another day of recording.

~oOo~

A/N: I'm just glad that when I was growing up they didn't have video cameras and stuff – still photos were bad enough!

Amber


	8. The Playgroup Gang's End of Summer

**The Playgroup Gang's End of Summer**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

~oOo~

Little Kagome yawned and her eyes fluttered open slowly. She blinked rapidly in the bright morning light for a moment, and then a frown crossed her little face and she pouted.

"Now what's that look for?" mama's cheerful voice came as she entered the bedroom and opened her closet to begin laying out her clothes for the day. "The day hasn't even started yet!"

Kagome sat up in bed and smoothed her hands over the blanket as she stared down at it with that pouting lower lip poking out even more.

"Today's the last day of 'group," she answered her mother, "and that means I won't see Sesshoumaru again until next year!"

Her mother glanced over her shoulder at her petulant daughter with a kind smile. "Oh, it won't be that bad, dear. I'm quite sure that you will still be able to see Sesshoumaru on weekends and holidays and things."

"It's not the same," the little girl muttered sullenly, but did as bid and climbed from the bed to begin getting dressed for the day. She pulled on her shirt and jumper in a much more haphazard manner than usual, and then followed her mother into the bathroom so she could brush her teeth and hair and wash her face.

"Life isn't always the way we want it, Kagome. Now, smile – do you want Sesshoumaru to see you looking like this, with such a frown on?"

Kagome shook her head but was unable to find her normal smile as she headed down the stairs for breakfast – which she wolfed down.

If this was the last day she'd have to be with Sesshoumaru, she wanted it to last as long as possible, so the sooner she got done, the sooner they could go.

~oOo~

A few miles away a certain small, future daiyoukai had woken and was thinking upon the same problem.

Because he and Kagome attended different schools this would be their last day together for some time to come.

That fact was not appreciated.

He crawled from his bed and began dressing in the outfit he had readied last night, checking himself over carefully in order to make sure that his attire was in its usual immaculate state, and then when he was certain that it was he headed for his bathroom, ruminating on the problem at hand and his still tentative decision to correct said problem.

_If I attend Muromachi Academy and Kagome attends Nobunaga Primary we will not be able to see each other hardly at all until next summer. This is not acceptable. I will simply have to speak to father and move schools, there is no other option._

Of course, he could just as well demand that Kagome transfer to his school, but he was very well aware that all her friends went to her current school, and since he had no 'friends' at Muromachi to worry about losing, it would be easier for him to make the move. Not to mention that it would be a much simpler matter to get his father to move him than it would be to talk Kagome's parents into moving her.

He made the trip from his room to the media room, as his father called it, and got online in a quick manner so that he could check out Nobunaga Primary's statistics, so as to make sure that they were at least sufficient – he didn't want to attend a bad school, after all. He was satisfied when he found what he was looking for – though not quite as good as the marks Muromachi had, they were more than satisfactory.

Matter attended to in a proper manner, Sesshoumaru headed for the dining room for the morning meal.

And so it was that as his family sat down to an easy breakfast Sesshoumaru looked at his father and said calmly and in an even tone as he buttered his toast, "I will no longer be attending Muromachi Academy," to his sire's stunned surprise.

Not sure what to make of what he'd just heard, Touga blinked, and then blinked again at his precocious heir. "Eh?' he finally got out.

"You heard what I said, father," Little Sesshoumaru stated complacently as he finished buttering his toast and set it neatly on his plate as he picked up the second piece to do the same.

"And may I ask why not?" the daiyoukai asked suspiciously.

"Because I will not be separated for an entire school year from Kagome," he replied easily.

Touga just blinked again, then looked up at his wife with a confused but resigned sigh. She smiled at him and shrugged, then turned back to helping Inuyasha get his breakfast ready. The little hanyou was still rather uncoordinated at some things, and eating was one of those things.

Their father watched his heir eating his breakfast nonchalantly, as though he hadn't just basically _told_ his father what he was and was not going to do, and frowned, uncertain about how he felt about the matter. Yes, he could understand the boy's reasoning well enough, but who was the alpha here – he, or Sesshoumaru?

And yet, his conscience prodded him uncomfortably before he could answer in a rougher tone than he normally spoke with, he had certainly enjoyed it when the boy had put his mother 'in her place', so to speak. Technically, as his mother she was over him in status, and yet he'd laughed and even encouraged his son's basically thumbing his nose at his mother, hadn't he? So how could he now become angry that the pup had made such a decision on his own and then simply _told_ him how things were going to be, instead of _asking _?

A little bit disgruntled with his conscience' prodding on this matter, Touga scowled at the table in general but asked his still calmly eating heir, "And so let me guess – you wish to attend her school, instead?"

"Of course, father," Sesshoumaru replied as he carefully brushed the crumbs of the now gone toast from his little hands so as to make sure that none of it got on his immaculate attire. "That should go without saying."

Touga blinked in surprise yet again. Had his son just basically spoken to him with that, 'Really, father, you are being remarkably slow this morning,' expression on his face? He was beginning to wonder if he should have gotten out of bed, because his heir had certainly caught him out wrong-footed today.

"But what about your friends?"

At that, Sesshoumaru really did look at him with that expression, and Touga had the feeling that the boy had actually had a hard time _not_ rolling his eyes at him.

"Oh, right, right," he waved his hands with annoyance at himself for forgetting. Sesshoumaru hadn't _had_ any friends until this playgroup idea he'd come up with – and the ones he had now were pretty much all from the same school as Kagome. "I forgot. So you really don't want to continue attending Muromachi? It _is _the highest-rated school, which was why you wished to attend it, after all."

"I am aware of that, father," Sesshoumaru replied, "but things do tend to change. And I have looked over the statistics for Nobunaga Primary, which is where Kagome attends, and it has acceptably high marks and standards, as well."

It figured his anal-retentive heir had already investigated the school – the boy was certainly good at researching and planning – even at seven. He wondered, with a moment of almost hysterical curiosity just what the overly-controlled pup would really be like when he was older, and it didn't take but a moment for the answer to hit him.

He would be a holy terror.

With a proud smile at that realization, the Western Lord threw in the towel and simply agreed to his son's request (well, demand, really, but he wouldn't quibble over the terms today) and ate his breakfast so he could take the boys to the last day of playgroup for the year.

And little Sesshoumaru simply continued eating with that same complacent expression on his face, his future laid out neatly in his mind - just the way it should be.

~oOo~

Little Kagome actually arrived at the park earlier than Sesshoumaru for once, and she wandered around 'their' side of the playground with a still pouty and disgruntled expression that surprised all the other kids entering the park. Kagome was rarely in a bad temper, being a normally even-tempered and sweet child.

Little Sango and Little Ayame arrived at almost the exact same moment, and when they noticed their friend's terrible expression they hurried over to her to find out what was going on.

"Ne, ne, Kagome-chan, what's wrong?" Sango chirped, her eyes wide.

"It's the last day of 'group, and I won't get to see 'Shoumaru again until next year," she answered petulantly after a moment, staring grouchily at the ground as she scuffed her shoes against the grass.

The two little girls nodded understandingly at that and Ayame patted the little girl on her back. "But Kagome, remember, you guys are married. They can't make you stay apart for all those months! Married people have to be together, right?"

Kagome looked up at her friend and blinked, surprised. Because Little Ayame was right. Married people stayed together. But even so, how was she going to make sure the adults let them do what they were supposed to do and be together? The only way would be to change schools, and she didn't really want to have to do that, since most of her friends attended her school. But it was Sesshoumaru...

Something occurred to her, then, and she looked at Ayame. "What school do you go to?" she asked.

The little girl grinned and bounced on her toes, her little red pigtails following the motion in a rather engaging manner. "Oh, since we moved here like Kouga's family did we'll be going to the same school as you, Kagome," she replied cheerfully. "I did hear you say that you go to Nobunaga, didn't I?"

With a small nod, Kagome replied, "Me 'n Sango both go there."

"Well, see? So maybe you should see if Sesshoumaru would go there, too! Then we'd all be together all year long!"

The little girl sighed glumly. "Yeah, but how do I do that? It's not like I can tell the 'dults what to do, right?"

Ayame wrinkled her nose at that, an adorable expression that kind of matched the one on Sango's face, and said doubtfully, "Well, maybe you should let Sesshoumaru do the telling. He seems to be very good at that."

Kagome blinked. That was true...

Just then, the little boy in question strolled through the gate of the little park, loftily ignoring his younger brother that came rolling in behind him, having tripped over his own two feet in his usual clumsy manner as several kids laughed at him.

Sesshoumaru made straight for Kagome, not looking at anything else, and a tiny frown settled between his brows as he took in her somewhat rumpled condition. Apparently she had not had a good morning, and so the little boy set out to cheer her up and make her normally sunny smile come out.

They played tag, blind man's bluff, samurai versus ninja's, and even duck, duck, goose, which whiled away the time in a highly fun and distracting manner, and soon he did, indeed, have the little girl smiling and laughing as they played.

But as the day began to wind down and some of the parent's arrived to begin taking their offspring home, Kagome's fears all suddenly came back and she started crying, afraid that her mother was going to arrive at any moment and drag her away from Sesshoumaru.

She was too upset for him to get what was wrong from her, so he looked at her friends with a frustrated look and demanded to know what was going on.

Little Ayame took the lead and explained Little Kagome's upset, and though Sesshoumaru hated her tears more than he hated anything else, he couldn't help the proud straightening of his spine that his woman didn't want to be parted from him anymore than he wanted to be parted from her.

"Kagome, do not cry," he started, hugging her. "I have already taken care of this matter, so you don't need to be upset. I will see you on Monday."

The little girl's tears abruptly paused and she pulled back and looked up into heavily lashed golden eyes hopefully, her lower lip still quivering in a thoroughly endearing manner, had she but known it. "Really?" she squeaked. "How?"

"I'm going to change from my old school to yours. I have already spoken with my father about this subject this morning, and he will be enrolling me in your school on Monday. And I will even be sure to be placed in your class," he added, his expression turning satisfied as the little girl squeaked excitedly and glomped him, not upset even as she knocked him over into the sandbox, dousing him in the messy stuff.

"Yay!" she yelled, her smile blooming across her face in a pretty manner as Sesshoumaru stared at her, entranced by the picture she made. He blinked, the spell broken when his little brother ran over and started pointing and laughing at him for his 'messy clothes'.

That ended the happy moment between Kagome and Sesshoumaru as the little boy carefully assisted Kagome back to her feet and then took off hotfoot after the little brat, once more determined to pound his little brother into submission. He had a very bad habit of interrupting good moments between he and Kagome, and that could not be allowed to go unchallenged.

Inuyasha had declared war, and Sesshoumaru was going to win it.

Now completely happy and cheerful, her bad mood gone as though it had never existed, Kagome spent the rest of the afternoon playing hard with all her friends and Sesshoumaru, not worried about her mother returning to pick her up at all anymore. (Though since today was Saturday she wouldn't be seeing Sesshoumaru until Monday, which she hated, one day was still better than an entire school year, so the girl tolerated the thought without her usual impatience.)

None of the group had paid the slightest bit of attention to the side of the playground where the 'baddies' dwelt, and so none of them had noticed Little Naraku's devious expression...

There just might be more new students for Nobunaga come Monday than the group would like.

Little Naraku was still determined to mess up Little Sesshoumaru's life, and he couldn't do that if they were in different schools. And his devious little mind had come up with the perfect way to get his father to change his school.

He rubbed his hands together gleefully as he stared with a nasty little smirk across the playground as Sesshoumaru said goodbye for the day to Kagome, already plotting the Western Heir's downfall.

For the first time, the devious little spider hanyou couldn't wait for the new school year to start.

_I'll get you yet, Sesshoumaru – and your little Kagome, too!_

~oOo~

A/N: And there is the end of the first year of the group's antics! We will pick up with the gang as they have aged another year and go back to playgroup next summer, and perhaps learn a bit more about Little Naraku's various and varied schemes during the previous schoolyear!

Amber


	9. The No Good, Terrible, Horrible

**The No Good, Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day**

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Inuyasha.

~oOo~

Kagome snuffled into her pillow, scrunching her face up as something tickled against her nose, not wanting to be pulled from her sleep. Unfortunately the tickle came again and she reluctantly opened her eyes, blinking sleepily at her mother's smile.

"Time to wake up, Kagome-chan," she said merrily, pulling her curtains open to reveal bright sunlight. "You have playgroup in about an hour, so you need to get up and take your shower."

She watched blearily as her mother smiled wider and then left the room to make breakfast, and then hid her face in her pillow to keep the evil sunshine out. This wasn't a very auspicious way to start the first day of summer vacation.

Normally Kagome was a very cheerful, bright, and happy child that spread sunshine wherever she went. But today... today just felt like a no good, terrible, _very bad day_ for some reason, and she didn't want to get out of bed. Maybe if she stayed in bed, the no good, terrible, _horrible,_ very bad day wouldn't be able to find her?

But that was not to be as her mother came in once again, forcing her oddly recalcitrant daughter out of bed and into the shower – where the no good, terrible, horrible, very bad luck day immediately manifested itself just as she'd known it would as she promptly dropped the full bottle of shampoo on her little toe, making it turn very red and then develop a bruise all around it. By the time she was finished with her shower she was even more convinced that this was a bad, bad day, and that it was not safe to venture forth from the safety of her bed.

She tried with all her might to convince her mother of this as she finally made it down the stairs – after stumbling down the last few and landing in a heap at the bottom – and sat down at the kitchen table for her breakfast. But her mother just laughed and shook her head, exhorting her to eat before they had to leave. Obediently, if somewhat reluctantly, Kagome picked up her chopsticks and grabbed a piece of the grilled fish – and promptly burned her tongue, dropping her chopsticks with a clatter that caught her mother's attention.

"Oh, Kagome-chan," she laughed helplessly, wryly amused. She gave her a cool glass of milk to drink to help with the offended tongue. "Everyone has these kinds of days sometimes, but hiding doesn't make them go away. You just have to go on with your day and try to be careful. Besides," she said, "isn't Sesshoumaru going to be there? You know he'll worry if you don't come especially since its the first day of 'group for the summer, and I'm sure he can protect you from the no good, terrible, horrible, very bad day you are having better than your bed, right?"

Not so sure about that though it didn't look like it was going to matter, Kagome just sighed sadly and very cautiously finished her breakfast, not wanting to even step foot out of the house, let alone get in the car to go to playgroup. Though it was pretty cool that Sesshoumaru had decided that his future mate was not going to be taking public transportation anymore, and always had a car come to bring her to him for playgroup, or anytime she was invited over to his house – which was quite frequently. It was really neat inside the big limo, and people always seemed to stare wondering who was riding inside the car.

Smiling slightly, Kagome's mother chivied her reluctant daughter out of the house and towards the shrine steps with a mother's magic touch, although she had a hard time watching her daughter's eyes widen without laughing as they approached the stairs and she started clutching her hand with more strength than she'd ever thought her little girl had – especially at this age, since she was barely nine.

"Umm, mama," she started to protest, "I shouldn't go near the long stairs with such bad luck today!"

"No worries, Kagome-chan, I won't let you fall. Just take one step at a time and be careful," mama said encouragingly. "You can do it, and look, the car is here for you."

It took a little bit to get down the stairs, what with her barely sliding down each step before cautiously taking another, but they eventually managed to get to the street and as the driver got out to open the door, he glanced at mama with a questioning expression in merry brown eyes. "Bad luck day," she whispered, and the driver nodded understandingly, winking.

Once her daughter was safely inside she stepped back and closed the door, waving goodbye. Shaking her head with a little laugh, mama turned to go back up the stairs as the limo disappeared down the street.

~oOo~

It didn't seem that the bad day could do too much inside the limo as they made it to the play yard without incident, but the moment the car stopped and the driver opened her door it struck again, as she tumbled out of the car after getting her feet tangled together. Her poor toe was throbbing so much it was distracting her from walking. And now her knees were hurting too – as well as her elbows. She just lay there for a moment as the driver hurried to try to make sure she wasn't really injured.

Besides a few scrapes that she managed to heal with a minimal surging of her powers, Kagome finally crawled to her feet and managed to make it to the yard, looking around for Sesshoumaru. It took a minute, but she found him across the playground arguing with his unruly little brother.

Carefully making her way across the space, Kagome practically scooted her feet the whole way, thinking that if she didn't pick her feet up she couldn't trip over them. Turned out she could still trip over the ground though, as her scooting feet found a nice rock and sent her flying.

Fortunately for her, at least this time, Sesshoumaru saw the accident happen and managed to catch her before she hit the ground again, and gently lowered her to her feet after he'd steadied them both.

"What is wrong, Kagome-chan?" he asked, brow furrowed with concern. "You are not usually so clumsy."

She sighed morosely, her lip wobbling a little as it poked out, causing Sesshoumaru's heart to melt. "It's a no good, terrible, horrible, very bad luck day," she whispered, her lower lip wobbling as her eyes filled with tears. "I knew it was going to be a bad day when I woke up, but mama said I had to get up anyway."

Immediately Sesshoumaru scowled and wrapped her up in his arms as though he could protect her from anything, even bad luck. She sighed again and relaxed into his hold; even if he couldn't chase away her bad day, he was still her hero.

She squeaked in surprise when Sesshoumaru swung her up into his arms as though she weighed nothing (which was almost the truth, as far as he was concerned), and headed towards their corner of the playground – the one that was opposite the baddie's corner. Carefully keeping her close he sat down in the sandbox, which was filled with fine sand warmed by the sun, and gently settled her next to him.

"Just stay with me as usual, Kagome-chan, and I'll protect you. Such silly things as bad luck days are not allowed to harm that which is mine," he finished loftily, patting her hand comfortingly as she nodded in response to his promise.

"Okay," she said, yawning as the warm sun and sand and feeling of safety Sesshoumaru exuded began to make her feel drowsy again. She _really_ hadn't wanted to get out of bed that morning...

She almost jumped out of her skin when Sango plopped down next to her, a smile on her face. "Hi, Kagome-chan! What a nice day, eh?"

Kagome pouted and shook her head. "No, it's a terrible, horrible, no good, bad luck day. I just want to go home and go back to bed," she sighed morosely, plopping her chin into her hand and bracing her arm on her knee.

Sango was surprised at Kagome's sullen mood but decided to try to cheer her up. She cast around for something to take her friend's mind off of her bad day, and then stiffened with excitement as she remembered something. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out an odd looking but beautiful stone and showed it to Kagome.

Perking up in reluctant interest Kagome stared at the pretty stone Sango had taken out of her pocket. "What is that, Sango-chan?" she asked with awe as the stone, inscribed with a complicated kanji that she couldn't read, glittered and flashed in the sunlight.

"Oh, this is how I keep bad luck days away, Kagome-chan," Sango chirped. "My father gave me this once when I was really little and was having a bad luck day, and it made everything all better! And I haven't had another bad luck day since I got it!"

Kagome's eyes rounded with awe. The stone was pretty and it even kept bad luck away? "Ooooo," the child said, staring at the rock with dazzled eyes. Maybe if Sango-chan just let her touch it, it would chase away her bad luck, too? Yes, Sesshoumaru had said he would not allow anything to hurt her, but she was a little skeptical about his ability to scare _bad luck_ away. "Oh, Sango-chan, can I touch it?" Kagome asked in a whisper, not wanting to upset Sesshoumaru with her lack-of-faith.

Sango shrugged as she looked at her best friend. "Sure!" She held the little rock out, and Kagome tentatively stuck out her finger and poked it, almost afraid in case it didn't like her kind of bad luck and tried to do something mean - like zap her. Before she could pull her finger away Sesshoumaru was standing there and scowling.

"What is that thing?" the youkai child asked, staring at it with haughty suspicion.

"Oh, it's just to chase bad luck away," Sango answered casually as her friend yanked her finger back with a guilty look at Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru glowered at the rock disapprovingly and then glanced at Kagome with an expression she'd never seen on his face. "I told you that I would protect you Kagome-chan. Didn't you believe me?" he asked, that same something in his voice showing on his face.

Before Kagome could answer something happened that startled the three children surrounding the stone, and she and Sango both promptly fell on their little backsides in the sand.

Sitting right in front of where Kagome had fallen was an odd, almost silly looking creature. It looked sort of like an imp, with big, buggy eyes and a thin body and limbs. It had appeared in a flash of smoke right in front of them, and the girls both gasped. Sesshoumaru just narrowed his eyes on the creature.

"Darn it!" it snapped grouchily, staring with wary eyes at the stone in Sango's hand. "Put that thing away!"

Both girls blinked, dumbfounded. Sesshoumaru just narrowed his eyes at the imp, his youki beginning to rise.

"What are you, creature?" he demanded with all the hauteur a nine year old could ever be capable of.

The little imp swung its gaze from the girls, who were sputtering in confusion, to the youkai child and paled. "Eh, heh, heh," it chuckled nervously, "I'm, uh, err... well, I'm a bad luck sprite. It's my job to make people have bad luck every once in a while."

Sesshoumaru's lips pursed as he stared the creature down. "Find another to bother, creature," he finally said, sticking his nose in the air. "Things that belong to this Sesshoumaru are not allowed to be trifled with by petty things like bad luck sprites."

The creature blinked. "Hey! I'm not petty!" it said, insulted. "I provide a needed service by reminding people to be thankful for the good things in their life!"

At this Sesshoumaru's lips tightened and his eyes narrowed even further as his youki rose more. "Kagome-chan has no problem remembering to be thankful for me, so your assistance in such endeavors is unnecessary," he insisted critically.

The imp blinked and then cowered at the obvious threat in the boy's words and his already overly strong youki, nodding rapidly. "Okay, well I'll just be going then!" it squeaked as Sesshoumaru began to lean over it. "You won't see me ever again, I promise!" Before it could vanish, though, he leaned down further and whispered something in the creature's ear and it perked up, looking across the playground.

"Over there?" it asked, and Sesshoumaru nodded, beginning to smirk just a little as he straightened back up.

"Okay, sounds good to me!" it said ingratiatingly to the youkai child. "I'll make it a really terrible day, how does that sound?"

"Very good," the boy purred, the smirk widening as the still-cowering imp vanished.

He looked up once it was gone only to see both girls staring at him, Kagome's expression sheepish.

"Wow, Sesshoumaru-kun," Sango said in tones of flattering awe. "You're _good_ to be able to chase all that bad luck away all by yourself!"

"I know," he said in tones of self-satisfied pride. And then he focused on Kagome. "I told you that I would protect you, Kagome-chan, even from bad luck, and I did."

Kagome dropped her head with a light flush and nodded, thoroughly chastised. "I know," she whispered. "I'm sorry I didn't listen."

Sesshoumaru unbent at her sorrowful voice and downcast demeanor and held out a hand to help her up out of the sand. "Do not think of it any more," he said magnanimously. "Now you can simply enjoy the day without worrying about anything bad happening - at least to you," he finished almost under his breath so the two girls wouldn't hear him.

Just as the little girl regained her feet, Sango making it up at the same time, Sesshoumaru noticed his father appear, a concerned frown on his face as he looked around curiously.

"Why is your youki raised so high, Sesshoumaru?" Touga asked, wondering what was going on, since there didn't appear to be any fight going on between the three children standing before him, and no other child had been in the vicinity. He'd been filming things on the playground quite happily when he'd felt his son's youki flicker and then begin to rise threateningly, and he'd set the camera aside and hurried over to the boy, hoping to avoid an incident with his son and another child (namely Kouga... or maybe Naraku).

Imagine his surprise when he reached the area and found...

Nothing.

"It is of no concern, father," his son said pedantically, letting go of Kagome's hand as she shuffled her feet and looked up at his father.

"He was protecting me from my bad luck day," the little girl said softly. "Please don't be angry at him!"

Touga blinked, then blinked again. "Eh? He was fighting... your bad luck?" he repeated for clarification. _How do you fight bad luck with youki? _he wondered.

Sesshoumaru nodded. "Yes, father, but there is no cause for concern. It could not hope to withstand my magnificence and once warned away from what was mine it fled from Kagome-chan," he said, so much satisfaction in the words that Touga stared at his son, dumbfounded.

The boy had always had an unseemly amount of pride, but this just took the cake. "Let me get this straight," he finally said incredulously, once he'd regained the use of his mouth, "Kagome-chan was having a bad luck day, right?" The children nodded solemnly, and he continued. "And this bad luck... spoke to you?"

His son inclined his head, though the expression on his face told him that the boy wasn't very impressed with his seemingly slow understanding of the situation. "Yes, father. It said that its job was to give people bad luck days sometimes so as to remind them to be thankful for the good things in their lives. When I told it that Kagome-chan had no need of such a service as she has never forgotten to be thankful for me, it ran away and said it would not return again."

Lips pursed at _that_ bit of egotism the dayoukai stared suspiciously at his son and asked, "What aren't you telling me?"

Sesshoumaru began smirking again and motioned for his sire to come down to his level. Glancing at the boy dubiously, nonetheless Touga obliged and gave his son his ear. When Sesshoumaru finished whispering whatever it was he'd said to his father he pulled away and watched as his sire tried desperately to stop his laughter.

Touga battled back his amusement with all his might and shook his head. "I see. Well, seeing as how you've taken care of the problem in such a timely manner, son, I'll leave you to it and get back to my spot. Have fun," he finished dryly as he turned away. _That little terror's going to be the death of me yet, _he thought as he headed back to his spot so he could continue filming the day. _Although... maybe I should move spots so I can see over to this side of the playground better, since this is where Sesshoumaru seems to have taken over. The things that boy comes up with sometimes..._

His ruminations were interrupted by a cry from the other side of the playground and he turned back to make sure nothing untoward was happening. When he caught sight of the child the frustrated cry had come from, he couldn't help it and a terrible smirk washed across his face.

_Maybe such things as bad luck imps actually do exist. If they do, they surely couldn't find any better victim than the one busily falling all over the place back there!_

He laughed as another yell came from the same child, a big grin settling on his face.

_I wonder if this 'bad luck imp' happens to look like Jaken. The toad is sour-faced enough to give most people bad luck with just his presence..._

Behind him, Naraku shouted again as he fell over for the third time in as many seconds, wondering where all the sudden bad luck he was experiencing was coming from. When he looked up and caught an evilly smirking Sesshoumaru staring at him, he snarled and shook his fist at the jerk... promptly hitting himself in the nose, and he groaned as he grasped his now sore nose and pressed on it.

_Darn you, Sesshoumaru! I'm going to get you one of these days!_

Across the playground, a very satisfied little youkai turned around and benevolently watched over his Kagome, his new little sister Rin, Sango and a newly arrived Ayame as they began playing on the swings. He smirked widely as another angered cry came from across the playground, supremely satisfied with the way this day had turned out.

_Enjoy your no good, terrible, horrible bad luck day, Naraku!_

~oOo~

A/N: I've decided to basically skip a year for each section of this story, so since when it started they were seven, now they are nine. Doing a section for each year was just going to make this selection of related one shots too long, since I plan to take this all the way up to adulthood, more or less. Hope everyone enjoys the newest chapter in this little tale!

Amber


End file.
